Title: A Feminist Migration Policy in West Africa? Potential Responses to the Gendered Impact of Externalisation Policies

Speaker: Dr Mary Boatemaa Setrana, Centre for Migration Studies (CMS), University of Ghana (UG), Legon

Abstract: The European externalisation policies are seldom considered for their intersectional impact, though the experience and impact on migrants in West Africa is varied and different according to who they are and what life experiences they hold. In particular, this concerns women on the move, returned - against their will or freely, and also those left behind. Despite the increased number of female migrants, it remains an under-researched field. In this intervention piece, based on our own research in as well as a review of the literature, we consider the effect of externalisation policies on female migrants, before considering what a feminist migration policy would look like as an agenda of action. Here we discuss three elements: first, migration as a space of recognition; Second, migration as a space of change, agency and contestation; and Third, migration as a space of conceptual expansion of how migration is understood and mainstreamed. Central to such a feminist migration policy is the transformative nature of the agenda and creating safe (r) spaces for activism and exchange that goes beyond just the mere inclusion and participation of women or “gender issues”.

Bio: Mary B. Setrana is an Associate Professor and the Director of the Centre for Migration Studies, University of Ghana, Accra, and a Research Associate, Faculty of Humanities, University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Mary is a member of a number of migration governance advisory groups and networks. For instance, she served as a technical advisor to the African Union Commission on migration governance. She is also an Advisory Board member of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA) Centre of Excellence on Migration & Mobility. She serves as the migration advisor for the Ghana Journalist Association. Her research interests focus on migration and gender, migration governance and policy development, migration conflict and peacebuilding, and return migration and reintegration. She is an African-based researcher on the following on-going research projects: Migration Decisions and the COVID-19 Pandemic project; GCRF South-South Migration, Inequality and Development Hub; Migration and Social Transformation project; Culture for Sustainable and Inclusive Peace Project; and Crises as Opportunities project.